Box Score: UConn battles past Akson Ilirija in Slovenia, 98-68

UConn women’s basketball played its second game on its European tour on Friday, defeating Akson Ilirija 98-68 in Slovakia. Afterwards, the team sent out a box score — though it’s unofficial and includes a couple mistakes.

Note: The following is based solely off the box score.

Starters: Nika Mühl, Azzi Fudd, Qadence Samuels, Aubrey Griffin, Aaliyah Edwards

After taking a ball off her head in UConn’s first game, Caroline Ducharme did not play on Friday but did watch from the bench. Freshman Qadence Samuels replaced her in the starting lineup.

Statistical leaders

Points: 24 — Aaliyah Edwards
Rebounds: 9 — Aaliyah Edwards
Assists: 6 — Nika Mühl, KK Arnold

Minutes management

Take much of this with a grain of salt, because this is where things get wonky with the box score. It says Bueckers played 1:40 while Ducharme saw 0:58 but UConn emphasized that it was simply an error — neither player took the court.

With that in mind, everybody supposedly played between 10-30 minutes. Fudd led the way with 29 minutes, though the freshmen — Ashlynn Shade (28), KK Arnold (26) and Samuels (23) weren’t far behind. Aaliyah Edwards also saw a decent chunk of action with 25 minutes while Nika Mühl’s time nearly doubled to 19 minutes after getting just 10 minutes in Croatia.

The team seems to be limiting Ice Brady’s minutes as she makes her back from injury — she went in for 13 minutes on Friday after getting 16 minutes on Wednesday. Inês Bettencourt played 10 minutes.

Statline stars

Aaliyah Edwards: The senior put in a dominant performance with 24 points on 10/14 shooting (including a 3-pointer) and nine rebounds. She also drew four fouls, but committed four as well.

KK Arnold: The freshman continues to impress overseas with 17 points on 7/9 shooting (1/2 from three), six rebounds, six assists two steals and just one turnover. The early returns on Arnold couldn’t be more promising.

Azzi Fudd: Fudd poured in 19 points and shot 50 percent across the board — 7/14 overall, 2/4 inside the arc and 5/10 outside the arc.

Aubrey Griffin: A good all-around day for Griffin. She had 14 points on a perfect 4/4 day (all 2-pointers), six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Aubrey doing Aubrey things.

Ashlynn Shade: Another balanced stat-line for Shade with five points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Team stats

Turnovers: UConn committed 16 turnovers which resulted in 16 points the other way.

Early run: After going up 7-2, the Huskies allowed a 10-0 run and fell behind 12-7. UConn later scored 18 consecutive points to pull away.

Next up

Italy’s next up on UConn’s itinerary with a contest against the Italian All-Stars on Monday in Baricella. Let’s hope these all-stars are better than Croatia’s.

Note: Our film room breakdown of Friday’s game will go out on Tuesday, while Monday’s breakdown will follow on Wednesday.

Full box score